Omaha daily bee., 1887-12-30
KENTUCKYS BURNING HILL.
A Fire Raging Under the Ground aud
Sending EOrth SmClls of SMlphMr.

Louisville Commercial: Six miles
west of Somerset, Ky. on Clifty creek, u
hill has been burning ever since last
August. On the east bank Of the creek,
and extending fifty feet up u steep rocky
bank, and for about forty-five feet up
and down the creek, there Is raging u
mysterious subterranean fire, from
which volumes OF smoke continuously
roll, and give forth an odOr similar to
that made by burning sulphur. The
timber which stood upon the strip OF
ground whence the smoke now issues
has been entirely burned up, no limb or
stump, or even any charred remains, to
show whore once stood huge spruce pine.
This is not the first time the hill has
been on fire. About four years ago the
owner of the land, Mr.. John w. Hall,
was burning some brush near this place
when the leaves caught fire and set fire
to the underbrush at this spot. Mr..
Hall was very much surprised to notice
that the fire burned for several weeks,
and making an examination found that
the fire was beneath the ground.
The fire continued to burn
from early spring until it
was extinguished by the heavy SHOWS
of the following winter, killing all the
growth of spruce pine, with which the
hill is covered. In August, 1887, Mr..
Hall concluded to burn the drift out of
the creek at the east bank, where great
piles had been carried by the high
waters, and was likely to turn the course
of the stream upon his fields on the OPP
posite side, and during the drought,
the channel of the creek being dry ut
that place, Mr.. Hall applied the torch
to the driftwood. The fire soon
caught in the dry leaves, and ere
long the smoke of sulphur showed that
the subterranean fires had been reltin-
died, the trees which had been killed
and dried by the former fire caught
and burned until not n trace of them is
now left. A recent visit to the place
disclosed the facts that the leaves of
the woods and the rocks near by are
covered. or rather glazed, with u yell
low coating. A match applied to leaf
caused it to burn with rather light
blue blaze; the yellow coating melted
and ran like melting lard Or tallow.
The surface of the earth is very warm,
and 80 i;iicrs so hot that one cannot
stand upon it either comfort or safety,
although the fire is at no place visible.
A small stick inserted in a tissure
caught fire. The space from which the
smoke issues begins Il few feet from the
edge of the water and extends upward
for something less than twenty yards,
ending at the base of bluff of hard,
hinty rock, which extends upward many
feet above it. From the base of this
precipice to the creek there extends all
the ways up and down the creek, on
both sides of the fire, n stratum of slate
rock about twenty-five or thirty feet in
thickness, which is loose and shelly
where the smoke and heat arise.
What the fire is and how it burns so
long has been the wonder of the people
in this vicinity for some time. People
have visited it from various places. but
no one has yet been able to explain to
everybody's satisfaction exactly what is
burning. Some say coal, others natural
gas; some think it is oil, while some
think the slate contains sufficient car
bon to keep the fire alive for this length
of time.